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Ronald A. Valenzuela

Ronald Valenzuela has been practicing in California for nearly two decades, representing clients, including Fortune 100 companies, in the aerospace, energy, pharmaceutical, and consumer products industries.  He has counseled clients facing Prop 65 demands and litigation, and he possesses a broad range of knowledge and experience in the areas of law that form the necessary components of a comprehensive Prop 65 practice, including products liability, consumer class action, toxic tort, and environmental law.

Ronald is a partner practicing in the Insurance Recovery & Counseling area. He represents policyholders in disputes of all kinds with insurers and has extensive experience in other complex litigation matters including product liability, mass tort, environmental and consumer cases.

Ronald’s insurance coverage practice ranges from large environmental and product claims to complex property and business interruption losses. He also handles disputes under director and officer, errors and omissions and fiduciary liability policies. In addition to litigating coverage claims throughout the country, Ronald advises clients on complex underwriting and risk management issues, including counseling on insurance policy terms and insurance policy audits. He also has significant experience in counseling biotechnology companies in product liability and insurance matters arising from clinical trials of investigational new drugs.

In addition to his insurance practice, Ronald also represents companies in a variety of other complex cases, including consumer class actions. He has defended consumer electronics manufacturers and distributors and financial companies, at both the trial and appellate level, against numerous class actions filed throughout the United States alleging violation of state unfair business practices acts, consumer fraud statutes, breach-of-warranty and Magnusson-Moss Warranty Act claims. He has also defended aerospace and defense contractors and property owners against claims brought under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). Acting, for example, as second chair in a bifurcated trial in federal court, Ronald helped obtain a judgment on behalf of the parent of a shipyard operator exonerating his client of liability as an “owner” under CERCLA.

Clients he has worked with have included both Fortune 500 and smaller companies, such as Aerojet-General Corporation, Alpha Therapeutic, British Petroleum, Whittaker Corporation, Sony Electronics Inc., Microsoft, Philip Morris, the International Vaccine Institute, Countrywide Home Loans, BCI Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Los Angeles, MediciNova, Inc. and Adobe Systems Incorporated.

Client Engagements

  • Major consumer-electronics firm in defense of numerous nationwide class actions alleging product defect, unfair competition, misrepresentation and false advertising
  • Former defense contractor in toxic tort case involving alleged personal injuries and property damage resulting from exposure to toxic substances through air dispersal and groundwater contamination 
  • Fortune 500 mortgage lender in putative nationwide class action lawsuit alleging unfair business and trade practices 
  • Fortune 500 food processing company sued under Prop 65 alleging that defendants failed to provide adequate warnings regarding presence of acrylamide in food products
  • Counseled consumer products manufacturer regarding ways to mitigate against risk of Prop 65 litigation and enforcement actions
  • Consumer product and e-commerce retailer in defense against threatened litigation involving alleged failure to provide adequate warnings under Prop 65
  • Cumis counsel for biomedical company sued by clinical trial participant alleging personal injuries
  • Global medical technology company in identifying proper insurance product for liability arising from clinical trials of medical device (surgical implant) and in negotiating policy coverage terms
  • International organization established at the initiative of the United Nations under the Vienna Convention concerning risk management and insurance issues arising from foreign clinical trials
  • Biomedical company as national coordinating counsel in multi-district litigation involving personal injury claims brought by clinical trial participants
  • Chemical manufacturer in defense of products liability and toxic tort actions involving alleged personal injuries resulting from workplace exposure to products supplied by manufacturer
  • Major beverage and bottling company in environmental action brought under CERCLA by municipal government for contamination in Port of Los Angeles
  • Association of aerospace, industrial manufacturing, entertainment, healthcare, defense contractor, technology and manufacturing companies, including Fortune 100 companies, in environmental litigation seeking cost recovery, contribution, and injunctive relief under CERCLA and RCRA against dozens of entities alleged to have contributed to groundwater contamination in Southern California
  • Fortune 500 petroleum and petrochemical company in prosecuting multimillion-dollar lawsuit for business interruption insurance coverage
  • Software company in prosecuting lawsuit for stop-loss insurance coverage for employee prescription drug costs

Publications

  • Co-Author, The Potentially Far-Reaching Impact of Fluor, Daily Journal, November 2014
  • Co-Author, Stacking Insurance Coverage in California, Law360, September 2012
  • Co-Author, The Global Impact of Japan's Disasters, Law360, March 2011

Professional Affiliations

  • American Bar Association
  • Hispanic National Bar Association
  • Los Angeles County Bar Association, Diversity in the Profession Committee

Community Involvement

  • UCLA Alumni Association, Bruin Professionals Network
Photo of Ronald A. Valenzuela
  • Los Angeles

    2049 Century Park East
    Suite 3500S
    Los Angeles, CA 90067-1623
F: 310.789.4601

Assistant

Laura Brayton
310.789.4667

Court Memberships

  • California
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
  • U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
  • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California
  • U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
  • U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California 

Education

University of Chicago Law School, J.D., 2000

University of California, Los Angeles, B.A., 1996